So French is a Language on the Decline, eh?

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm a bus-taker, not because I'm some super keen, fist-in-the-air, granola-eating environmentalist. I'm cheap. Anyways, on the bus, there's a couple of people that prefer to converse in French. In the East, this is probably a regular thing, but in Western Canada? This had me wondering about the pervasiveness of French in Canada, just how is the old gal doing?

No sooner did I ponder this, than I spotted a language survey on the CBC's website. I hopped all over it, naturally, seeking to satisfy my raging curiosity that has had me in its grip. In terms of Canada, its a predictable 21.9 Million English to 7.2 Million French. An interesting side note is that Canada's population is around 35 million or so. So there's roughly over 10 million people getting by in Canada not speaking a lick of English. Having briefly worked in Quebec, this seems to align with reality. Try ordering popcorn at Kernels in a mall in Laval, you'll agree with this.

So what about Alberta? What are languages number 2 and 3? It can't be French. It has to be the Chinese languages, or Ukrainian? How about German? Well, since you ask, English speakers are at 2.8 Million, Chinese Languages are 77,000, and French comes in strong at 53,000. French has overtaken German as the third most spoken language in Alberta. What the heck? French? The third most spoken language in Alberta? BC even has 54,000 French speakers.

Even our attitude towards French seems to be changing. A recent survey from The Commissioner of Official Languages found that 72 pecent of respondents were of the opinion that bilingualism "is important". 84 percent thought bilingualism was important for career advancement. Recently, I saw the movie "The Rocket" the biopic film about Maurice Richard. I'm also aware of "Bon Cop Bad Cop", which is the number one Canadian-made movie of all time. Both movies have an intertwined French theme about them. French seems to be becoming cool.

On a world stage, the number of French speakers in the past 50 years has tripled. It is an official language of The International Olympic Comittee, FIFA, The United Nations, and the IMF. French is also an official language of 33 nations, second only to English's 45. So clearly French is a major player when it comes to global languages.

My personal feeling is that it is solely due to the French Canadian Pop Artist "Mitsou" and her breakout smash hit "Bye Bye Mon Cowboy" in the late eighties.

The inertia from this hit song steamrolled over a referendum that failed, and has wreaked havoc on the separatist cause which has dwindled, and may have even played a role in Canada's Gold Medal win at the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olymics. The evidence speaks for itself.

What. You have a better reason?